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Dupe, a lady of smashing beauty was 35 years old. She was a lady every man dreamt of marrying. Tall, light complexioned and friendly. Above all, charming. Wherever she went, everyone joked with her and wanted to get her attention. She was nick-named; The-smiling-beauty and in the native language some people would add that her beauty and carriage was such that no man who is lucky to marry her will ever touch or beat her because of her ever smiling face. That was when she was young. All that has changed now. No man wanted to marry Dupe.
This got the whole village curious. They wondered why men ran away from Dupe and they seemed to be unwilling to marry her after having a close encounter. Again, surprisingly too, some people in the village of Keloke where Dupe grew up gossiped in hush tones that Dupe's beauty was not just an ordinary one. They said her beauty was like that of fairies. They swore in their rooms she was the product of a union between physical and the spiritual and that her mother became pregnant many years after marriage after someone had taken her to propitiate the goddess of a river which runs into the Atlantic ocean. This river was believed to be one of the children of the mighty Atlantic. Fishing was the main occupation of the inhabitants of Keloke where Dupe lived.
Because of her elegance radiance and beauty, Dupe was the most popular amongst all the ladies in the village. But her inability to get a husband was fast becoming a stigma.
Although men wanted to marry her but they cannot explain what drove them away.
Then one day, a man called Mr. Fernando Po arrived the village. No one knew where Fernando Po came from, but people rumored that he was a one of the men who worked on a ship that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean some years back and was abandoned by other sailors. Huge and handsome, Fernando Po had a deep voice. Sharing the name with an Island in Atlantic was something curios to Fernando Po but he seemed to like it although he did not know why they called him Fernando Po. The village elders who were amongst the people that gave him the name knew why the chose Fernando Po. The man was an island, on his own. He was strange in everything, just as his emergence in the village of Keloke. At first when he arrived Keloke, people thought he was a ghost and no one wanted to give him a place of abode where he could put his properties and have a good rest at night. Keloke village had been troubled at night by strange spirits and unknown forces and to welcome a man christened Fernando Po into the village, they reasoned was to be courting evil. The villagers still battled with the memories of a rampaging snake that visited people's homes at night to steal eggs and sometimes kill chickens. Because the snake usually ate the eggs and the chickens, the people who were traditionally poultry farmers were poor. They made money by rearing chickens but for the past few years, the snake had devoured their means of livelihood. After Fernando Po had searched the whole village looking for a room to live, someone kind enough gave him the direction to the home of Nebo, a shrewd businessman and miser who was avoided by everyone. Nebo was a landlord in the town who was known to driven other people out of business as a result of shrewdness and meanness .He was tight fisted and would do anything for money. The man who sent Fernando Po to him thought that it was better to do that. He was of the opinion that although he was trying to help the stranger, a tough personality, possibly a spirit or ghost in human form may curtail the excesses of Nebo. Besides, the town knew Nebo would always find a place for any tenant no matter how small because he liked money.
Dupe lived in the same compound with Nebo and as much as possible, she avoided confrontation with this mean landlord who could kill for money. Unfortunately, she lost her parents while she was young and she lived with her grandmother who was one of the tenants in the compound until few years ago. So, with his small bag Fernando Po went to Nebo to ask for a room.
"I do not have a room again said Nebo but I can get a place for you to sleep but you must pay me the equivalent of the rent for a room", said Nebo.
"I will pay as long as it is a place where I can lay my head", said Fernando Po.
As usual, Nebo was happy that another man that could be cheated had approached him for a room. So, he led the prospective tenant to a corner in the building very close to the kitchen. This place was very dark because it had no window. Soot covered everywhere because it was near the kitchen. But little chicken also found a sanctuary with their mothers here away from the occasional visits of snakes that liked to swallow their eggs and crush them in their belly. The nocturnal visits of the snake had been a problem to the community but no one knew what to do with this strange and intelligent snake. Some could swear that the snake was half human and half snake. Some people gossiped that it was the head of all snakes in the whole world. It prowled every corner of the village, carefully at night and ate just chicken and their eggs.
However, it was in this kitchen area that Nebo thought it wise to find a room to give to Fernando Po.
Fernando Po was of course desperate. He wanted any place because he had roamed the city without finding a place to sleep. He was very tired already and any place would do. When Nebo asked if he liked the kitchen area, Fernando Po answered yes and he put his bag on the floor. Then both of them agreed on the rent.
That night, Fernando Po could not sleep well. He was particularly disturbed by the sound of the chicken frightened by something. Fernando Po woke up and looked in the direction of the chicken and found out that it was the snake that often came to disturb them that was at it again. Although he too was a rugged person, he was terrified. Fernando Po screamed and the snake ran away. The snake was scared because it only wanted to sneak in and devour some eggs. The whole place was scattered and the noise was so loud that everyone in the neighborhood woke up wondering whom the stranger that had just come to town was screaming at. The snake escaped and the people later realized that it was the strange snake again rampaging the village.
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